The Final Word on High Capacity Magazines in Maryland

fred333 · Mar 21, 2014

The Final Word on High Capacity Magazines in Maryland (for uninformed sellers)

Mark gave me his permission to repost this on mdshooters.com (it probably outta be a Sticky):

Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:50:49 -0400:
You have asked about Maryland's law governing magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds. § 4-305(b) of the Criminal Law Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland states that, "A person may not manufacture, sell, offer for sale, purchase, receive, or transfer a detachable magazine that has a capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition for a firearm." Unlike Maryland's law governing "assault weapons," § 4-305(b) does not prohibit the possession of such magazines in Maryland, or the transportation of such magazines into Maryland. Also, Maryland law would not govern the sale or receipt of such magazines that occur outside of Maryland.

This email does not constitute an official opinion of the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland.

Mark H. Bowen
Assistant Attorney General

I'm not gonna post his email address to keep spammers from getting it.

Machodoc · Mar 21, 2014

fred333 said:
Mark gave me his permission to repost this on mdshooters.com (it probably outta be a Sticky):

Good stuff! Glad that he's a good guy, and not a turd who feels that he's got to use a query as a reason to panic and "close a loophole".

(Isn't it funny how gun-related language is even part of our legal lexicon?)

DC-W · Mar 21, 2014

Is this from a .pdf? If so, could you post it as an attachment?

Alphabrew · Mar 21, 2014

Was this ever in dispute? I'm sure they'll work on closing that "loophole".

Name Taken · Mar 21, 2014

Why was this ever a question? It's pretty clear in the wording.

They used the same wording as before but lowered the number from 20 to 10. Everyone knew you could go out of state and get 30 round P Mags and bring them in. This did not change.

Daddyursus · Mar 21, 2014

I know you went to alot of trouble to get a reading on the magazine capacity ruling but this response offers no further clarity to the question you have been asking, Fred. If I remember, you wanted to purchase a CZ-82 with the standard 12rd magazine. Since last October, no vendor, private party or even family member has been legally able to send you a magazine that holds more than 10rds. You have to go out of the state to get it and bring it back.

rseymorejr · Mar 21, 2014

" This email does not constitute an official opinion of the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland."

Doesn't that phrase render the entire message useless?

fred333 · Mar 21, 2014

The primary purpose for this is to have something to give to a confused seller, who reads Maryland law and concludes that it's unlawful to possess high capacity magazines in Maryland. I had just this experience last week when I lost out on a really nice C&R pistol because the seller refused to ship the magazines, separately, to a friend in VA. Had I been able to refer him to Mark's missive, I'd be holding the gun now. And I'd reckon many other mdshooters members've had similar experiences.

mike_in_md · Mar 21, 2014

What does the word receive mean in the new law? Can I hand someone a gun with a 20 round magazine to shoot at the range? Can I send my lawfully owned magazine to a manufacturer or gunsmith for repair and get it back lawfully?

pitpawten · Mar 21, 2014

I think we'd really want to get this as a PDF for archiving. PDF would eliminate the spammers from scraping the site (though his his email is already out there in other opinions

Would you be willing to post the entire email in PDF for us all?

fred333 · Mar 21, 2014

rseymorejr said:
" This email does not constitute an official opinion of the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland."
Doesn't that phrase render the entire message useless?

I wouldn't try to use Mark's email in a court of law (that was the reasoning behind his disclaimer at the end), but I think it'll do its intended job--to convince an ambivalent seller that he's not gonna have MD State Troopers breaking down his door because he shipped a coupla 12-rd mags to Virginia.

Streetgang · Mar 21, 2014

Name Taken said:
Why was this ever a question? It's pretty clear in the wording.

They used the same wording as before but lowered the number from 20 to 10. Everyone knew you could go out of state and get 30 round P Mags and bring them in. This did not change.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. It's been a forgone conclusion that possesion is not a problem just buy, sell and transfer within MD borders.

Fred, are we missing something here?

pitpawten · Mar 21, 2014

fred333 said:
I wouldn't try to use Mark's email in a court of law, but I think it'll do its intended job--to convince an ambivalent seller that he's not gonna have MD State Troopers breaking down his door because he shipped a coupla 12-rd mags to Virginia.

Exactly

On that note though, having copy/paste from an internet forum probably wont do the trick either

Maybe something like this?

fred333 · Mar 21, 2014

pitpawten said:
I think we'd really want to get this as a PDF for archiving. PDF would eliminate the spammers from scraping the site (though his his email is already out there in other opinions

Would you be willing to post the entire email in PDF for us all?

Again, I won't post his email publicly (even within a document, which is publicly accessible), but here's a PDF version:

Daddyursus · Mar 21, 2014

mike_in_md said:
What does the word receive mean in the new law? Can I hand someone a gun with a 20 round magazine to shoot at the range? Can I send my lawfully owned magazine to a manufacturer or gunsmith for repair and get it back lawfully?

TO RECEIVE. Voluntarily to take from another what is offered

As others have stated before, I would not want to be the test case.
The first example would almost unenforcable.
But the 2nd example would be breaking 2 parts of the law. One you can not legally "Transfer" a magazine of greater than 10 rds, and second you could not receive your own property back

fred333 · Mar 21, 2014

Machodoc said:
Good stuff! Glad that he's a good guy, and not a turd who feels that he's got to use a query as a reason to panic and "close a loophole".

Very definitely. He's assisted me on a few firearm-related questions and always very helpful, professional and cordial.

PapiBarcelona · Mar 21, 2014

Weird thread.

Somehow I think waving printed pieces of paper in front of out of state FFL's won't make a difference for a MD resident until you have a new license (ie; moved). Sad fact of being a MD resident buying a firearm from an out of state dealer.

Machodoc · Mar 21, 2014

Although I haven't seen it personally, a friend in NOVA said he has more than once seen bunches of guys who looked like they were straight outta da hood get out of cars with MD temp (paper) tags, and go into his favorite LGS to load up on high-capacity mags.

It's only making things inconvenient for those who legally own guns and use them appropriately.

P.S. - The people who work in state AG offices are only charged with carrying out the laws. They don't make them. In many (but not all) cases, they tend to function in a rather conservative manner ... unless they are being pressured by a politician. It's possible to get someone in an AG's office who has an anti-gun bias, but even they know that it's all about "winning". None of them tend to prosecute a case if they aren't pretty sure that they can make it stick--even on appeal--unless they are made to do so by some high state official. It's not good for their reputation, and most have political aspirations of their own. You'd have to be not only a bad guy, but a pretty big fish, for an AG to go after you on something of this sort.

Still, the less they are pinned down, the better. Ambiguity in the law works both ways.

pitpawten · Mar 21, 2014

Thanks much, and good stuff!

fred333 · Mar 21, 2014

Streetgang said:
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. It's been a forgone conclusion that possesion is not a problem just buy, sell and transfer within MD borders.
Fred, are we missing something here?

Again, this is not intended to prove anything here (we all know the law on this). Instead, it's to clarify Maryland law to an un- or mis-informed non-Maryland seller.

The Final Word on High Capacity Magazines in Maryland

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Banned

Old Guy

Ultimate Member

Binary male Lesbian

Ultimate Member

Trusted Shellback

Ultimate Member

Banned

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Banned

OP4

Ultimate Member

Banned

Attachments

Trusted Shellback

Banned

Ultimate Member

Old Guy

Ultimate Member

Banned

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics